B2 B2 FOCUS ON FCE - Reading, Part 2 Seven sentences have been removed from the text. Choose from the sentences A-H the one which fits each gap. There is one extra sentence that you do not need. Coming of age is the transition of a young person from childhood to adulthood. 1. ....... It may be a simple legal convention or part of a ritual, as practised in many societies. In the past, and still in some societies today, such a change was associated with sexual maturity (early adolescence); in others, with religious responsibility. In Western societies in particular, modern legal conventions specify points in late adolescence or early adulthood as the focus of the transition: most commonly 16 or 21 when adolescents are generally no longer considered minors and are granted the full rights of an adult. 2. ....... Among the most bizarre coming-of-age rites is the one celebrated by the Satere-Mawe Tribe, an indigenous tribe from the Amazon rain forest in Brazil. What a boy has to do to become a man in this tribal community is painful: withstand being stung by not one, but a swarm of bullet ants. In case you re not familiar with this exotic insect, here s an interesting fact: the bullet ant claims the number one spot on the SSPI (Schmidt Sting Pain Index), a scale created by Justin Schmidt, which rates the pain caused by different Hymenoptera stings. 3. ....... In preparation for the initiation rite, the elders of the tribe collect the bullet ants from the jungle. The ants are drugged and placed into special gloves woven from leaves. 4. ....... This is when the boy puts on the gloves and lets the bullet ants work their magic, for a whole 10 minutes, no less. It s the same as having your hands on fire, says one Satere man. 5. ....... As the pain continues to increase, the hands become paralyzed and look like stumps. But just one attempt is usually not enough to turn a Satere boy into a man. He must go through this ritual as many times as it takes for him not to cry during the process. 6. ....... Sometimes, this can take up to 20 attempts. The practices of the Satere-Mawe are in stark contrast to the Western urban world, where initiation rites can be as simple as going to college, getting a job and moving out of your parents home. But it is different in tribes like these, where the men of the tribe generally have little contact with the young boys, who spend most of their time with the women. 7. ....... It sounds primitive, but perhaps it is no different from a father taking his son out fishing or camping, or just spending time with him. Excluding the unbearable pain, of course. B2 B2 IT STINGS LIKE HELL! THE BULLET ANT INITIATION CEREMONY 134